Kirkwood Community College students now have an easier path to completing their academic education through an expanded partnership with the University of Iowa.
The two schools entered into an agreement to ensure students take the foundational courses needed to meet general education and UI College of Education course requirements.
After earning an associate of arts degree at Kirkwood University, students who meet application requirements can seamlessly transition into the UI's elementary education program to earn a degree and license to teach elementary education, university officials said. states. Kirkwood students who follow the course path are guaranteed admission to the Elementary Education program.
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Mark McDermott, associate dean for teacher education and student services in the UI College of Education, said part of the agreement is that students who have transferred between the two schools in the past have been able to learn what courses are available. He said that this was a response to hearing people who wanted to understand more about the world. It is best to take it to streamline your education.
“We've been affiliated with Kirkwood in many ways for a long time. We have several students who begin their studies at Kirkwood and then come here to earn their teaching certificates,” McDermott said. “This is really a result of wanting to create a path that is as efficient as possible but also as clear as possible for students who are transferring here from Kirkwood to earn their teaching certificate.”
Kirkwood Social Sciences Dean Amanda Humphrey said faculty at both universities have worked hard to identify which classes should be in the pipeline to meet the requirements, but the university has announced several new courses. He said that all he had to do was add . They are repackaging rather than starting with a clean slate, she said.
“The great thing about (the agreement) is that this is not a wholesale overhaul, and it can sometimes impact whether a student can start as a sophomore, remain a sophomore if they transfer, or be able to transfer. It's just identifying some small parts of gender.' Now you can start as a junior and actually get into the College of Education,'' Humphrey said.
With background work completed and a pipeline in place for students after launch this fall, UI representatives are currently working at the Cedar Rapids campus to help Kirkwood staff engage with education students about this opportunity. Humphrey said.
One group Kirkwood hopes to have in the pipeline are high school students who already have an interest in educational training. The University of Iowa Community College Regional Center hosts an educational academy for students taking high school and college courses simultaneously. Humphrey said the agreement will allow future teachers to complete their schooling even faster and more efficiently.
McDermott emphasized that allowing students to more easily transition between the two programs does not in any way reduce the quality of education or make the courses less rigorous. He said it's important for students to realize early on what kind of time and effort they will need to put in to become the kind of teachers needed in today's schools.
Kirkwood and the UI share this mission and vision of making education education as accessible as possible to produce more and stronger teachers, he said.
“We want to produce teachers who are really effective and who stick with it and stay in the profession that is really important to us,” McDermott said. “So, in my opinion, if we're not well prepared, something like that won't happen. So we need to make sure we have not only an efficient pathway, but a really effective pathway as well.”
